Computer science continues to develop and permeate a number of disciplines and matters in society. It has had both positive and negative consequences. However, there is a general opinion that the approach in computer science must not only consider matters of convenience. Some of the oldest societal practices need to be protected and safeguarded against erosion. These include matters of courtesy, social interactions and the concept of neighborliness. This paper shall discuss the impact of social networks on social relationships. There are conflicting debates on whether social networks have a positive or negative impact on both the nature and quality of social relationships.
Social networks refer to the new forms of internet platforms that have made it easier for people to communicate through visual means. In social networks, people can communicate and share basically anything that can be converted into virtual versions. In this category include commodities like writings, chats, messages, music and other works of art, photographs, and scanned texts, among others. Through social media, people have been able to converse on social matters and keep in touch with one another. In addition, social networks are often all present all the time. They function twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This has enabled tremendous amounts of interaction and communication. Time is no longer a limiting factor. People are able to interact and share ideas even as they continue pursuing other things. This concept has been equally facilitated by the developments in computer related gadgets that enables real time interactions. Some of these gadgets include cellular mobile telephones, laptops and I-pads. Through these devices social networking has been quite interactive and facilitative of communication and interaction.
Another essential contribution of social networks is the reduced costs of interaction. The use of social networks has reduced communication costs substantially. Individuals can share data and information via the social networks without having to incur transportation and or ferrying costs. One merely scans, writes, designs or crafts the document or material and shares it across the network through virtual means. The subsidies by governments in ensuring the provision of internet has equally aided in reducing the net costs on social networks. It needs to be appreciated that social networks have had an effect of accumulating and collecting masses. This is one appreciated beauty of the social networks. The collection of masses together at minimal costs is an advantage necessary in communication of information. It is for that reason that today the advertisement industry is flooding social networks. Information can be communicated over the social networks with the assurance that it will reach a fair percentage of the total audience.
Social network enhances efficacy and efficiency of communication. This is because the social network platforms have a record system. The information communicated remains in the platform for some time and the people can always see the messages upon logging into the platforms. This record system is absent in traditional communication systems such as the radio and television which run information only at their own conveniences. It should be noted that it is only through the social networks that individuals have been able to adopt a mixed approach of formality and informality. One is allowed the option to elect how to present his or her information and messages to the others. This informality enables people to capture the communication essentials often lost in formal approaches. However, the options equally enable communicators to present their information to others with formal undertones. It is not surprising, therefore, that lately government agencies and departments have decided to join social networks to be able to communicate the information and government policy to the masses.
Social networks equally have a wider audience that facilitates productive and diverse interaction. It is only through these social networks that the international barriers have been eliminated or reduced. The recent developments in social networks include the formulation of translators so that different language versions of the same message or communication are availed on social platforms. This has effectively facilitated interactive communication that goes beyond local boundaries. It is this approach that is necessary to promote globalization which has its own benefits to the social relationships of people. In that context, individuals of diverse backgrounds and cultures have been able to interact and develop new affiliations and feelings. The stereotypes and reservations about others in the society have been eliminated through an enhanced method of communication among people. This has had the effect of promoting understanding and harmony among members of the society. Social relationships have spurred and grown in bounds out of the little interaction sessions social networks provide for people. In addition, it has become much easier to gain knowledge and ideas from across the globe through the social networks. This is essentially because the interactive and facilitative nature of the networks. They have enabled conversations across the globe in real time and at affordable costs. In the long run, the quality of social relationships has tended to improve for the better with the application of social networks.
However, social networks have not come without a cost. In fact, social relationships have been the worst affected by the negative effects of social networks. Foremost, social networks have had a destructive effect on immediate social relationships. Immediate in this case refers to the relationships that are within one’s physical surrounding. People have concentrated so much on virtual interaction to the extent that it has excluded physical interaction. Today physical interactions have to be colored with cases of texting, replying to emails, looking at the chats on Twitter and Facebook, among others. These distractions have watered down the quality of conversations that ordinarily would have yielded a lot of productivity. In addition, the social networks have had an attacking effect on the confidentiality levels. People have inadvertently released so much information about themselves and others on social networks. In some cases, the information has fallen on unsafe hands. Criminals, especially cyber criminals, use the social network information to study and track down their victims. This clearly exposes the security risks that social networks pose to social relationships. It has been difficult to be able to scan through systems so as to discriminate on who access what information and to what extent. This challenge has led to critical concerns on privacy. The recent developments in the United States of America has seen the security agencies confess to having had access to personal information of individuals through the internet. A lot of such information is derived from social networks where individuals without knowledge of potential damage easily give their bio data.
Social networks have also had an eradicating effect on the societal moral and courtesies. The social networks have allowed for real time communication of almost anything virtual. This has encouraged the exchange of pornographic literature and contents effectively facilitating acts of indecency. In some cases, youngsters and minors have had access to these social networks and watched pornographic content. Among the effects of these include the introduction of prostitution and cases of unplanned pregnancies. Moreover, social networks have promoted a culture of aloofness where individuals fail to appreciate the value of their immediate neighbors and instead concentrate on their social network friends. This has eroded the previous courteous relations in society. In other cases, social networks have been facilitative of cyber bullying. High handed individuals have bullied and pilloried others on social media often holding the others victims due to their ignorance or inability to defend themselves decisively. This has occasioned consequences such as destroyed self-esteem, suicide cases, among others. In extreme cases, social networks have been used to swindle cash from unsuspecting individuals through dubious schemes and arrangements often with next to impossible promises.
In conclusion, it should be appreciated that social networks are positive and have widespread impacts on the social relationships of people. It enables the unlimited, user friendly and cost friendly communication and exchange of ideas and content. It is the only interactive method that has the character of being as short as only within two persons and as long as between the entire world. It is, therefore, an essential weapon that needs to be put to proper use. However, it should be equally appreciated that if misused, it could be the reason for massive losses on social relationships.
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